photos by Michael Hallahan
New Noise Magazine is hosting the exclusive premiere of “Shatter,” the latest single from DAVID CARESS – the enigmatic new venture from Dallas Seger, founder of Maine-based alternative metal trio Manic Abraxas and owner/luthier of Seger Guitars – as the project’s debut album, Azure nears release.
Much like the first pinpoints of sunlight refracted through innumerable dewdrops of a tranquil meadow in the early hours of a still morning, DAVID CARESS’ Azure is imbued with both beauty old as time and fleeting fragility. Sure, the sweeping elemental majesty, ferocity, and even isolation of the enigmatic art-pop architect’s native state of Maine gushes throughout the album, but the feelings brought forth by these twelve songs could just as easily have been born in the stagnant summer heat radiating off cracked concrete in any post-industrial urban sprawl.
Such is the duality of CARESS, who in the title track croons, “How can eyes so cold hold such warmth? How can clear blue sky promise storm?” over punchy drums, glassy guitars, and lush soundscapes. Tracks like “Sunshower,” “I Confess,” and “Break The Same” continue to construct new wings in the hallowed halls of late-‘70s/early-‘80s post-punk, new wave, and electronic worship, while “Echoes” and “Wildflower” bring tinges of English roots rock and psychedelia to the affair. Lyrics simultaneously cryptic and coy run the gamut between noirish night tales, sun-soaked vistas, and plaintive investigations on things not always being as they appear on the surface. That is not to say that the album flourishes by simply reminiscing about the past; for every gaze backwards, there’s an over-the-shoulder glance towards a future rich in pathways for guitar-focused electronic music.
Simply put, Azure would be a fitting soundtrack to the multitude of life’s moments both mundane and magic – sitting still and staring into the middle-distance of an unfeeling room under the spell of exhaustion; rolling over hills on twilight drives and having the orange-roseglow of a sunset gradient engulf your field of vision; the sighing exhalation of smoke and stress escaping one’s shadow under a lone street lamp; lying awake in the witching hour yearning for people and possibilities long gone – these can all be found shining in the diamond fields of Azure if you catch the light just right. This is mood music for a reality where the ups-and-downs continue to increase in frequency and ferocity; a the-past-is-the-future, the-future-is-the-past landscape undeniably treaded-upon and touched by DAVID CARESS.
Azure was fully written, performed, and recorded by Dallas Seger with additional strings by Tom Bennett (Today Is The Day) and additional arrangements by Justin Hamm (Dying Mind), and was mixed and mastered at Austin Enterprise by Steve Austin (Today Is The Day).
“Shatter” is the album’s closing track. Seger writes, “Glass walls shatter. So does the illusion. ‘Shatter’ is a brooding dark wave/post punk anthem about those who shoot themselves in the foot and blame the gun. ‘Shatter’ follows previous single, ‘Azure,’ and sets the tone for a darker, more electronic chapter – cold synths, relentless beat, fast-picked guitars.”
Stream DAVID CARESS’ “Shatter” first at New Noise Magazine HERE.
Azure will be independently released digitally on October 9th. Preorders for the record are live at Bandcamp where the title track is playing HERE.
Videos and more from the record will be issued over the weeks ahead.
https://www.instagram.com/david_caress_music
https://davidcaress.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/@DavidCaress
The post DAVID CARESS: New Noise Magazine Premieres “Shatter” From New Post-Punk Project Headed By Manic Abraxas Member/Seger Guitars Owner; Debut Album, Azure, Nears October 9th Release first appeared on Earsplit Compound.